I. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to food products and a method of preparing the same, and particularly to a frozen, pre-cooked pizza product.
II. Description of the Prior Art
In the past the frozen food industry has provided a variety of food products which are very convenient in use in that they are simply removed from a freezer and placed in an oven and cooked for a predetermined period of time. In the field of frozen pizzas, the product usually consists of a circular or disk-shaped piece of dough in which a variety of ingredients, such as mushrooms, tomato sauce, cheese and the like, are placed thereon. The open-faced pizzas are generally pre-cooked, wrapped in suitable material and then frozen for shipment to the ultimate consumer. Such open-faced pizzas, however, have a tendency to lose some of the flavor and taste and are not of the same quality as pizzas which may be obtained at restaurants and the like, where such pizzas are prepared and consumed in a relatively short period of time.
One of the basic reasons for the loss of flavor and taste in such open-faced pizzas is that the ingredients are not sealed within the dough prior to its first pre-cooking process.
The previously known open-faced pizzas suffer the further disadvantage that when sliced in conventional pie-shaped slices, the individual slices of pizza are relatively awkward to handle due to the limpness of the pizza slices. Thus, unless properly supported, the previously known pizza slices are prone to droop downward so that the pizza ingredients fall onto clothing, the floor, or the like. Needless to say, this problem is particularly prevalent among children.
Certain improvements in the frozen pizza product field have led to food products in which the ingredients are wrapped or sealed in an outer shell and are basically a pastry. Such pastries are expensive to make and therefore are sold only in the form of small, cylindrically shaped pieces and are usually used for the purposes of a snack or hors d'oeuvres. The expense of making such an item prohibits their use in serving a large quantity, such as the hereinbefore described open-faced pizzas.
It would, therefore, be desirable to provide a pizza-like product which can be manufactured in a large size, such as to provide a sufficient quantity to serve a large group of people, yet one that is inexpensive as compared to other food products that are currently on the market, and which does not have the disadvantages of the open-faced pizza in that it lacks flavor and taste.